Offreda Helps Team USA to Gold Medal at Summer Deaflympics

Montclair, NJ (9/22/09) – It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for senior forward Liza Offreda (East Rutherford, NJ / Midland Park) and she has a piece of hardware to show for it.

Offreda
helped her United States squad capture the gold medal as the recently
completed 21st Summer Deaflympics, which took place in Taipei Taiwan
from September 5-15.

The three-year letterwinner
started all four games as the Americans went unbeaten, allowing just
one goal. Team USA opened the tournament with a 4-0 victory against
Germany on September 5 with Offreda scoring once in the win. A 7-0
triumph versus Denmark (September 7) put the United States into the
semifinals where it knocked off Great Britain, 2-1 on September 11

It
was on to the gold medal match where Team USA would meet Germany on
September 14 for a second time. And just like the opening contest,
Offreda would come up with a goal as the United States cruised to the
gold medal with a 4-0 victory.

Offreda was selected to
the team in April as the U.S. Deaf Sports Federation (USADSF) announced
it final roster which consisted of 144 athletes (64 females and 80
males) and 54 team officials (five different categories:
coach/assistant coach, delegate, interpreter, medical,
leader/director/manager).

Offreda came to Montclair
State prior to the 2007 campaign and made an immediate impact helping
MSU to the NJAC Championship Game. The team's fourth-leading scorer
that season, Offreda scored five goals and added two assists while
being named All-NJAC Honorable Mention. Last season Offreda tallied
four goals and was third on the team in points scored as Montclair
advanced to the semifinals of both the NJAC and ECAC Metro Tournaments.

The appearance in the Deaflympics caused Offreda to miss Montclair’s
first five contests, however she did rejoin the team for the Red Hawks’
NJAC opener against defending conference champion and No. 22 ranked
Rowan University.